Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
“Michelle Avery has organic, earthy music with the power of Pop but the dignity of Roots/Americana. Soaring, wisdom soaked vocals hit the heart-hard. Her voice is so emotive, and she writes vividly and naturally giving her lyrics an alluring quality. My only complaint is that there are only five songs on her EP!!! I look forward to a full length album!” - -Taxi, “The World’s Leading Independent A&R Company”
“The best way to describe Michelle Avery's music is to say that it is honest, and that to me, is one of the highest compliments I can pay. Her writing, as well as her performance, is a great snapshot at who she is, what life looks like through her eyes, and who she is as an artist. I think this project is a great step in a great direction for her, and I look forward to seeing where she goes from here.” - -Andrew Osenga, The Normals/ Caedmon’s Call
"If music is about heart, then Michelle Avery gets it. Michelle is one of those rare artists who are writing honest, thoughtful, well-crafted songs that connect with people. It does no service to a world growing in it's awareness of need and imperfection to write songs that gloss over reality. Michelle is a writer with guts who is not afraid to put her heart on her sleeve to tell people they are not alone in their pain-a voice that needs to be heard!" - -Matthew Perryman Jones, singer/songwriter/producer
“Michelle Avery’s lyrics and her emotive voice intertwine to create an aural experience which is unmistakably raw, yet healing.” - Andrea Bailey, CCM Magazine
Discography
The Waiting, EP 2004
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Michelle Avery is a captivating arrival on the Nashville music scene. Her folk-rock debut The Waiting unveils a serious, insightful singer/songwriter who has emerged from her own struggle to become a voice of truth.
"As humans, we're all there, and yet not there, in the process of believing," Avery says. "I want to give voice to people who are, like me, not there yet, but on the road."
A self-established artist, Avery taught herself guitar and piano during her high school years in Colorado and began to sing and play as part of her church worship team. Soon after, she started writing songs on both instruments and discovered a gift for melding soul and art. Initially rooted in CCM, Avery later wove threads of inspiration from songstresses Patty Griffin, Jonatha Brooke, Over the Rhine and Tori Amos into her own unique artistry.
In college, songwriting became a cathartic force as Avery sorted through painful memories. It just poured out of me when I was experiencing a lot of suffering. That's when I started experiencing healing, as I told my story and was honest about where I'd been," she explains. Due to her own intimate encounter with music, she believes in its intuitive healing power. "It's another form of prayer. I don't have to use the part of my brain that is so consumed with perfectionism and intellectualism, but I can just let go."
Avery's journey then led her to Nashville to attend Belmont University, where her songwriting continued to blossom. In the summer of 2004, she entered the studio to record The Waiting, a process she calls breaking and healing. Produced by Matthew Perryman Jones and engineered by Josh Davis, the record was mastered by Al Willis and features the musicianship of Paul Moak (electric guitar), Chris Weigal (bass), Jeff Pardo (keyboards), Justin Meeks (drums), and Emily DeLoach (background vocals).
On the record, Avery sings of familiar things: love for Colorado, cringing before life's blows, the restorative quality of tears and a continued striving to understand and experience love. Perhaps that is what makes this record just so convincing, so thoughtful. Each song taps into the heart of a human experience and softens the raw edges with hope.
Avery's sensitive lyricism whispers to listeners that whatever their situation, whatever they are dealing with at the time, it's okay to feel the way that they do. I have believed that I am not allowed to have the feelings I do, or that I am not allowed to express them. But I want to communicate that we can go to the places we are scared of, and wake up to find that love is there Avery says. Whatever the moment or season of life or experience, her listeners will be able to connect with her melodies, to ease into a place of safety. Most of all, Avery wants to be a voice of truth in lifes dark passages, speaking truth about reality and love.
Today Avery continues to woo fans from every walk of life as she performs locally. She also toured with the acting troupe Peculiar People in the Winter of 2004. Her heart is ready and willing to go as far as her music will take her. She desires for it to reach every person who needs to feel and experience its message. "The Waiting, I hope, offers people a reality that represents a lack of fear in saying the hard things," she says, "while still believing that reality, as hard as it can be, is not bigger than love."
by Andrea Bailey
CCM Magazine
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